5 Signs You Need Help in Your Firm That Have Nothing to Do With Being Busy

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“So busy” is why many of us make that first (or second or third) hire. You have too many projects, too many deadlines, and not enough hours, so another person seems like an obvious solution.

But being overwhelmed with work isn’t the only reason to hire. Everything can seem perfectly manageable while your business still needs help.

Maybe every decision still needs your input. Maybe your team technically has responsibilities but keeps checking with you before doing anything. Maybe you’re spending so much time reviewing, correcting, and coordinating other people’s work that the work you’re actually supposed to do as the owner keeps sliding down the list.

Those problems won’t necessarily present themselves as an overflowing calendar. Sometimes you need help because of how your firm operates, not just how much work you have.

Five Signs Your Firm Needs More Support

#1 Everybody Needs You to Make the Final Decision

Pay attention to how often your team waits for you.

Can a project manager answer a routine client question without checking first? Can procurement deal with a normal shipping problem? Can a designer make a reasonable substitution within an approved budget? Or does every slightly unusual situation end up back in your inbox?

If people are capable of doing their jobs but still need your approval at every turn, you have an authority problem. You might need clearer roles, better documentation, or another senior person who can make decisions when you’re unavailable.

Your firm has a problem if work keeps stopping because everyone’s waiting for one person.

A little hierarchy can save an enormous amount of back-and-forth. Five people shouldn’t all need the owner to answer the same question.

#2 You Keep Fixing the Same Problems

One mistake happens. You correct it and move on. No big deal. But if the same mistake keeps happening over and over, it’s time to pay a bit more attention.

Maybe purchase orders regularly go out missing information. Maybe nobody knows who should update the client after your team experiences a delay. Maybe your designers consistently need another round of review because expectations around presentations were never documented.

At that point, another late night from you probably won’t help much. Worse yet, it’ll exhaust and frustrate you. Repeated errors usually need a process, a person who’s responsible for executing that process, or both. Figure out which before making a hire.

Before you add another employee, write down what keeps going wrong. You’ll have a much better idea of the role you actually need to fill instead of being unnecessarily reactive.

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#3 Your Team Has Capacity, But You’re Still Doing Too Much Yourself

This one can be irritating because technically, you already have help.

Maybe you have a junior designer who could source the first round of options, but you still do it. Maybe your project manager could communicate with the vendor, but you answer first. Maybe an administrator could take on all scheduling, but you keep jumping into the calendar.

Your team can only take responsibility for work you actually give them. DO NOT MICROMANAGE.

Look at the people you already have before posting another job. You might have enough employees and a delegation problem. The point of a team is to take tasks off your plate; you’re not supposed to peer over every shoulder endlessly.

If someone on your team could do a good job with reasonable training, start handing over those tasks.

#4 Important Information Only Exists in Your Head

You know that one vendor always needs an extra follow-up. You know which client wants a phone call (NOT an email!) before any schedule change. You know where the latest pricing spreadsheet lives, which builder needs drawings sent a certain way, and exactly what “ready for presentation” means at your firm.

Does anyone else?

If people constantly have to ask you for information they couldn’t reasonably find themselves, hiring another employee won’t solve much. You’ll simply have another person asking you questions.

Documentation is so valuable for this reason and many others. Write down recurring processes, communication expectations, approval rules, project standards, and anything else you repeatedly explain.

If the business depends on information only you know, start putting that information somewhere your team can use it.

#5 You’re Spending Less Time Doing the Work Only You Can Do

Think about what actually needs your specific experience and expertise.

Maybe that’s creative direction, pricing, business development, high-level client conversations, hiring, financial decisions, or reviewing the most important design work. Your answer will depend on your role and the way you’ve built your business.

Now look at what you actually spend your time doing.

If most of it goes to scheduling, correcting routine work, answering questions, following up with vendors, organizing information, or making decisions somebody else could make with a little more context, your role probably needs to change.

This can be a strange and uncomfortable adjustment. You started the business because you’re a designer, and now part of your job is building a team that can do good work without needing you involved in every element of it.

If your calendar is full of work that doesn’t need your experience or expertise, you need help even if you aren’t technically overwhelmed.

You Don’t Have to Wait Until You’re Drowning

Many firm owners unfortunately wait until the workload becomes unbearable before they hire, delegate, document anything, or rethink who owns what. At that point, every decision is made under pressure.

You can (and should) address these problems earlier.

Look for repeated mistakes, decisions that always come back to you, information nobody else can access, employees who could take on more, and important work you keep postponing because smaller responsibilities are eating your time.

Those are all signs your firm needs more support. 

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.